Surgical treatment of abnormal systemic artery to the left lower lobe: A case report.

BACKGROUND: Abnormal systemic artery to the left lower lobe is a rare congenital abnormality characterized by anomalous communication between the systemic and pulmonary circulation. Owing to its rarity, there is limited clinical experience with respect to the diagnosis and treatment of this disease. CASE SUMMARY: We report a 60-year-old man who presented with a history of hemoptysis for 20 d. Contrast-enhanced computed tomography of the chest confirmed the diagnosis of abnormal systemic artery to the left lower lobe, and surgical treatment was performed. The aberrant artery arising from the descending thoracic aorta was ligated, followed by removal of the left lower lobe. The patient showed good recovery and was discharged 6 d after the surgery. At the 1-year follow-up, the patient had recovered completely, and lung CT showed no abnormal findings. CONCLUSION: We present a case of abnormal systemic artery to the left lower lobe that was successfully managed by surgical resection of the aberrant artery and the left lower lobe. This case report adds to the clinical experience of diagnosing and treating this rare entity.

Identification of a novel coronavirus causing severe pneumonia in human: a descriptive study.

BACKGROUND: Human infections with zoonotic coronaviruses (CoVs), including severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS)-CoV and Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS)-CoV, have raised great public health concern globally. Here, we report a novel bat-origin CoV causing severe and fatal pneumonia in humans. METHODS: We collected clinical data and bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) specimens from five patients with severe pneumonia from Wuhan Jinyintan Hospital, Hubei province, China. Nucleic acids of the BAL were extracted and subjected to next-generation sequencing. Virus isolation was carried out, and maximum-likelihood phylogenetic trees were constructed. RESULTS: Five patients hospitalized from December 18 to December 29, 2019 presented with fever, cough, and dyspnea accompanied by complications of acute respiratory distress syndrome. Chest radiography revealed diffuse opacities and consolidation. One of these patients died. Sequence results revealed the presence of a previously unknown ß-CoV strain in all five patients, with 99.8% to 99.9% nucleotide identities among the isolates. These isolates showed 79.0% nucleotide identity with the sequence of SARS-CoV (GenBank NC_004718) and 51.8% identity with the sequence of MERS-CoV (GenBank NC_019843). The virus is phylogenetically closest to a bat SARS-like CoV (SL-ZC45, GenBank MG772933) with 87.6% to 87.7% nucleotide identity, but is in a separate clade. Moreover, these viruses have a single intact open reading frame gene 8, as a further indicator of bat-origin CoVs. However, the amino acid sequence of the tentative receptor-binding domain resembles that of SARS-CoV, indicating that these viruses might use the same receptor. CONCLUSION: A novel bat-borne CoV was identified that is associated with severe and fatal respiratory disease in humans.

Gold Triangular Nanoplates Based Single-Particle Dark-Field Microscopy Assay of Pyrophosphate.

Owing to the sharp edge-enhanced electric field, gold triangular nanoplates (AuNPLs) exhibit strong localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) scattering and display as red spots with high intensity and narrow distribution under dark-field microscopy (DFM), based on which sensitive sensing applications could be developed. As a concept of proof, the inhibition effects of pyrophosphate (PPi) against the etching of AuNPLs based on Cu2+ and I- mediated is dynamically monitored. The etching proceeding of AuNPLs by copper ions and iodide ions leads to the gradually blue-shifted LSPR scattering color of AuNPLs under DFM from the original red to green, accompanied by the reduced LSPR scattering intensity. As a result of the strong affinity of PPi to copper ions, the presence of PPi makes the etching process greatly suppressed, thereby achieving sensitive detection of the PPi.

Inconspicuous Reactions Identified by Improved Precision of Plasmonic Scattering Dark-Field Microscopy Imaging Using Silver Shell-Isolated Nanoparticles as Internal References.

Investigating a reaction that is inconspicuously weak, slow, or coexists with other fast reactions is interesting since that can supply a capability to find new reactions or explore indecisive mechanisms, but the strategies for the investigations are still greatly limited. Herein, we apply the strategy of "finding from the data" to discuss inconspicuous reactions through improving the confidence level of detected signals. In dark-field microscopy (DFM) imaging analysis, plasmonic nanoprobes, such as silver nanoparticles (AgNPs), have been applied at a single nanoparticle level with high sensitivity, but correspondingly, the deviations caused by instrumental and operational errors are inevitable. Thus, silver shell-isolated nanoparticles (AgSHINs) as an internal reference (IR) are introduced to calibrate the scattering signals of AgNPs probe during the reactions. Two calibration factors, α and ß, are used to calibrate the plasmonic scattering intensity and RGB values of the AgNPs probe of the DFM images, respectively, making the confidence level of the DFM imaging analysis greatly improved and, thus, supplying a possibility to monitor inconspicuously weak or slow reactions. As a proof of concept, the inconspicuous amalgamation of AgNP probes bathed in dilute solution of mercury higher than 1.0 × 10-10 mol/L was successfully monitored. In the same way, we identified the very weak oxidation process of AgNP probes by dissolved oxygen in water. These successful monitorings of inconspicuous weak or slow reactions, which might be possible to be regarded as detection deviations mistakenly, show that the use of AgSHINs as an IR can provide a precise method to discern or discover inconspicuous slow reactions in nature through the DFM imaging analysis.

The localized surface plasmon resonance induced edge effect of gold regular hexagonal nanoplates for reaction progress monitoring.

Clear doughnut-shaped far-field scattering patterns (DNSPs) for gold regular hexagonal nanoplates (AuHNPs) larger than 500 nm (distance between the two opposite edges) have been observed by dark-field microscopy imaging. This phenomenon was attributed to the edge effect, which can be further applied for reaction process monitoring.

[Macrobenthic faunal diversity in Xiangshan Bay].

In order to understand the community pattern and biodiversity of macrobenthic fauna in Xiangshan Bay, an eight cruises survey was made at thirteen stations of the Bay from July 2006 to August 2007, with the dominant species composition, richness, biomass, secondary productivity, and P/B value of macrobenthic fauna investigated, and the species diversity of the macrobenthic fauna analyzed. A total of 123 macrobenthos species were recorded, including 48 species Mollusc, 33 species Crustacea, 12 species fish, 12 species annelid polychaete, 8 species echinoderms, and some coelenterates and nematodes. The dominant species were more concentrated, and the dominance index was higher. The average secondary productivity of the macrobenthic fauna was 16.70 g x m(-2) x a(-1), and the average P/B value was 0.60. There existed distinct variations (P < 0.01) in the species richness index (d), evenness index (J), Simpson's diversity index (D), and Shannon diversity index (H) among different survey stations, and distinct variations (P < 0.01) in the indices except evenness index (J) between years.